Women's College World Series site gets dressing rooms

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  No longer will the nation's top college softball teams have nowhere to get ready and nowhere to go when they're done playing at the sport's pinnacle.

A new multipurpose building that will house dressing rooms for the Women's College World Series was dedicated Monday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

The site has hosted the NCAA Division I softball'championship 20 of the past 21 years, but teams previously had to put their uniforms on at a hotel before going to the stadium. After games, they'd huddle up wherever they could find a spot or use tents that were put up to provide some sort of shelter.

"There's been times where we've had rain delays that you didn't have any place to go, and I think the big thing is after the games," said Arizona coach Mike Candrea, who has won eight national titles at the stadium.

"It's always nice to have a secluded place that you can get your team in and talk. For some times, it's a great celebration. After a loss, it's nice to have some privacy to say what you need to say without having people hanging around waiting or hearing what you've got to say."

Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso, who guided the Sooners to the 2000 national title, said the new locker rooms bring the Women's College World Series closer to what's expected at such championship events as the NCAA basketball tournaments and football's Bowl Championship Series title game.

"Your players shouldn't have to be changing out of their uniform on the bus or in the public bathroom, and that's the way it used to be," Gasso said. "So, I think it's definitely a long time coming.

"For teams that are at the College World Series, or whoever's playing there, should be able to be treated like other Division I sports that are out there, that have opportunities to have private meetings, have showers, and change your clothes in a nice dressing room."

The new building, funded through a local bond issue, is 10,000 square feet and will be configured to have four dressing rooms during the World Series in June. Eight teams make it to the event, with as many as four games on a given day.

It will take some logistical tinkering to figure out how best to use the new facilities.

"It will be a rotation deal. Obviously if we have weather issues or further delays, we'll manage it as we go. The good thing about the NCAA and the teams who come here, they're always willing to do what's needed to make the event better," said Chris Sebren, who oversees the stadium for the Amateur Softball Association.

"And they've sacrificed enough over the years that this is going to be an added benefit for them whenever they come to town."

The stadium has been expanded over the years to keep up with the rapidly growing Women's College World Series, which averaged slightly less than 20,000 fans a year in the 1990s but in excess of 45,000 annually for the last decade. The event has drawn its six biggest crowds the past six years and set attendance records last year with 62,463 fans overall and 9,080 on a single night.

"We know that there's a want to come out. One of the things, too, is that when people hear, 'Well, I couldn't get in,' they stop thinking about coming out," said Ron Radigonda, the ASA's executive director. "So, you've got to keep adding to the seating capacity."

Radigonda said preliminary plans have been discussed to add 4,000 to 5,000 permanent seats in a second deck at the stadium, bringing the total capacity to about 13,000 when temporary outfield bleachers are brought in for the World Series.

"It's not going to be a cheap project by any stretch of the imagination," Radigonda said

Oklahoma City and the ASA hope to lock up the event long term, much like Omaha, which has a contract to host the men's College World Series through 2035. The NCAA's contract with Oklahoma City runs out after 2012.

"I think the big thing is just the commitment that I think this shows to the NCAA, because I think Oklahoma City is definitely the place for this event," said Candrea, who also has coached the USA to Olympic gold and silver medals. "I guess just like all the colleges around the country, facilities are a big part of recruiting and staying with the Joneses, I really think that this was long overdue for the College World Series."

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